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Sunday, May 7, 2017

Online Dating Anyone? by Jean C. Gordon

From my financial writing days, I still love statistics. So in line with my upcoming novella “A Match Made in Williamstown” in The Matchmakers let’s look at some online dating statistics. While my novella characters didn’t meet through an online match, they did meet because of an online dating service.

According to the Pew Research Center:

59% of US adults think online dating is a good way to meet people, versus 44% in 2005.

Use of online dating sites has nearly tripled, from 10% to 27%, since 2013.

And use has doubled, from 6% to 12%, for people ages 55 to 64.

A third of people who have used online dating services have never actually gone on a date with someone they met on a site.

22% of online daters have asked someone to help them create or review their online profiles (30% of women and 16% of men)

55% of Americans in a marriage or committed relationship say they met their significant other online. Another study by researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found more than a third of US marriages began with online dating.

Couples meeting online may be happier. The National Academy study also found that within seven years, 5.96% of online-meeting married couples had broken up, compared to 7.67% of offline-meeting married couples.

Did you meet your spouse or significant other through an online match or know someone who did? Have you tried online dating? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

The Matchmakers Releases May 23 — eBook and Print

Ellie Alexander is in love. And the only thing sweeter would be if Libby, Natalie, and Stephanie, her three unmarried, unattached granddaughters, could find the same happiness. Maybe with a little help from her and her beau Blake Parker . . .

A Match Made in Williamstown — Libby Schuyler has avoided dating since her break-up with college-sweetheart Jack Parker. Out of nowhere, Jack shows up claiming Ellie is swindling his grandfather, Blake, through a travel agency partnership they’ve formed. Libby and Jack team up to protect their grandparents and get to the bottom of Ellie and Blake’s business and romantic relationship. While Libby and Jack fight their reignited attraction, Ellie and Blake conspire to bring the two together.

A Match Made in Sheffield — Natalie Benton bounced from one foster home to another until she landed on Ellie Alexander’s doorstep. Natalie’s vagabond childhood caused her to yearn for a secure life, which led to Natalie’s five-year plan: complete her law degree, marry the perfect man, become a partner at Montgomery, Haynes, and Preston, and produce one child. Getting arrested wasn’t in Natalie’s plan. Needing a public defender wasn’t in her plan. Falling for Grady Hunter, her public defender, definitely wasn’t in her plan. Can Grady convince Natalie there is more to life than her five-year plan? Is Ellie the only one who sees a future for Natalie and Grady?A Match Made in Freedom — Stephanie Gould loves life on Martha’s Vineyard . . . until she runs into Kay and Tim, her former business partner and her ex-fiancé, who just returned from their honeymoon. Surprised by the heartache she thought was gone, Stephanie heads to the Berkshires to visit family and friends. Arriving in Stockbridge, Stephanie meets Captain Henry Lewis. Little does Stephanie know, her grandmother has already met Henry, and Ellie thinks Henry is perfect. Stephanie has no interest in dating, Henry included. If only Henry didn’t turn up everywhere Stephanie goes. When he walks up beside her at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stephanie can’t deny her attraction, but she’ll do her best to fight it.